द इण्डियन स्ट्रगल / भारतीय स्वाधीनता संग्राम (नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस - ऐतिहासिक विश्लेषण)

APPENDIX 351
reduce the stand not only of the Congress delegates, but also
of the All-India and Provincial Congress Committees.
Verily, the Mahatma has ceased to be a dynamic force. May
be, it is the effect of age.
But why did the Congress swallow the constitutional
amendment? The reason is not far to seek. In May 1933, the
Mahatma was able to suspend the civil-disobedience move-
ment under cover of his three weeks' fast. In November 1934,
he was able to alter the constitution under cover of his
retirement from the Congress. On both occasions, so great
was the sympathy roused for the Mahatma that emotional
and unthinking people accepted everything that the Mahatma
proposed, if only that would please him.
The question here arises—'has the Mahatma retired? If
so, why?' He has retired in the sense that his name does not
appear in the list of members of the Supreme Executive of
the Congress. But the executive—the Working Committee—
has been backed by his blind supporters. The present Work-
ing Committee is more submissive to the Mahatma than even
the Working Committee of last year, of which the Mahatma
was himself a member. Among the personnel of the present
Working Committee, the Swarajists or Parliamentarians are
conspicuous by their absence. Even, Mr. M. S. Anay who
dared to differ from the Mahatma on the question of the
Communal Award, is not there, despite his loyalty and sub-
missiveness in the past. And poor Mr. Nariman who ventured
to think independently, has been virtually kicked out of the
Committee. In 1924, the Mahatma had really retired from
Congress Politics together with his Party, as the Congress
machinery had been seized by his opponents, the Swarajists.
To-day, the person of the Mahatma may not be in the Com-
mittee—but his Party is there, stronger than ever. Moreover,
he has a direct control over the most important department of
future Congress activity—the Village Industries Association.
The so-called retirement of the Mahatma will not, accordingly,
diminish his hold over the Congress machinery in anyway—
but will enable him to disown all responsibility for the failures
of the official Congress Party during the next few years. His
retirement, therefore, is only one of his strategic retreats to